Over the weekend I attended the School of Theatre’s production of The Beggar’s Opera. Having read the play for a class last semester, I was very excited to see it on its feet. My excitement was not unwarranted, as the performance was extremely good and I proceeded to tell everyone I saw during the remainder of the weekend to make sure they made time to see it.
From an acting standpoint, the huge amount of work the cast did in order to carry such demanding roles was evident in every scene. I thought the acting was tremendous, and I commend every single one of them for their performances. Only a couple of the actors seemed to have interpretations of their characters that did not make sense to me, but even so, these interpretations did not detract from the overall excellence of the show. Similarly, a couple of the actors’ accents were not as rich and convincing as the rest, but again, this did not take away from the performance as a whole.
From a directing standpoint, the play was staged brilliantly. It was so creatively done, using all kinds of levels facilitated by the architecture of the theatre and the set. The director very obviously extracted the most from his cast, considering the fact that all of them displayed their flexibility and personal strengths in the grotesque ways they moved, reacted, and even changed the set pieces and props. Maybe it was so amazing to me because I know the cast members as friends and colleagues, but the transformations they underwent were astonishing.
From a singing standpoint, I must admit that the men’s vocals outshined those of the women. HOWEVER, and that is a very big however, I do not think this is a result of lack of talent. I think it has much more to do with the fact that the women’s songs were about two octaves higher than necessary, which is a fault of the score itself and not of the actors’ abilities. It was obvious to me despite the ridiculous notes they were forced to hit that, had they been able to sing in a key audible to humans rather than just dogs, they would have had lovely musical theatre-style voices.
From a design standpoint, the use of a thrust stage (in which the audience sits on three sides of the action, leaving one wall for set) was a very wise decision. It allowed the cast to have a flow to their movement that looked different but still dynamic from all sides. The makeup was ingenious – I have to say that I have never seen teeth more effectively blacked out and dirtied than in this show, even in movies. The costumes, too, were appropriate for the period and contained the perfect amount of gaudiness to show distinctions among classes and professions.
I must say that my Thursday night was well spent attending such a wonderful production of The Beggar’s Opera. Congratulations to the cast and crew, you all did a marvelous job!
From an acting standpoint, the huge amount of work the cast did in order to carry such demanding roles was evident in every scene. I thought the acting was tremendous, and I commend every single one of them for their performances. Only a couple of the actors seemed to have interpretations of their characters that did not make sense to me, but even so, these interpretations did not detract from the overall excellence of the show. Similarly, a couple of the actors’ accents were not as rich and convincing as the rest, but again, this did not take away from the performance as a whole.
From a directing standpoint, the play was staged brilliantly. It was so creatively done, using all kinds of levels facilitated by the architecture of the theatre and the set. The director very obviously extracted the most from his cast, considering the fact that all of them displayed their flexibility and personal strengths in the grotesque ways they moved, reacted, and even changed the set pieces and props. Maybe it was so amazing to me because I know the cast members as friends and colleagues, but the transformations they underwent were astonishing.
From a singing standpoint, I must admit that the men’s vocals outshined those of the women. HOWEVER, and that is a very big however, I do not think this is a result of lack of talent. I think it has much more to do with the fact that the women’s songs were about two octaves higher than necessary, which is a fault of the score itself and not of the actors’ abilities. It was obvious to me despite the ridiculous notes they were forced to hit that, had they been able to sing in a key audible to humans rather than just dogs, they would have had lovely musical theatre-style voices.
From a design standpoint, the use of a thrust stage (in which the audience sits on three sides of the action, leaving one wall for set) was a very wise decision. It allowed the cast to have a flow to their movement that looked different but still dynamic from all sides. The makeup was ingenious – I have to say that I have never seen teeth more effectively blacked out and dirtied than in this show, even in movies. The costumes, too, were appropriate for the period and contained the perfect amount of gaudiness to show distinctions among classes and professions.
I must say that my Thursday night was well spent attending such a wonderful production of The Beggar’s Opera. Congratulations to the cast and crew, you all did a marvelous job!
